g's travels: color

following a quick trip to kerala for a fabulous fulbright conference (all expenses paid!) i jetted straight off to delhi to spend holi with friends. this was probably the most anticipated festival for me. probably? who am i kidding. it's on my bucket list, for goodness' sake. i was really excited about this. i mean i'd played holi with friends before in the states. but something about being in india where everyone around you is dancing and celebrating and covered in color just seemed fantastic.

i arrived the day before holi, which is actually holi itself - people light bonfires at night; the color part comes the day after. the next morning we rose early to the sounds of drums that seemed to be right outside the window. and, in fact, probably were. we hesitated a bit before going outside, content to enjoy our breakfast before getting totally covered. we managed to hold off for some time but eventually a few of the neighbors came over to play. toto (my friend's dog) was the first to get it: pink water, right on the nose. a few of us began to venture outside, receiving the obligatory cheek smear and 'happy holi' greeting from friends and neighbors. a group of women encircled me and pounced. fresh meat. (imported, even.) and then it was all over. colored powder was in the air, the dhols were out, music was blasting from car stereos, dance circles began, and fried foods were being dished out at the neighborhood celebration in the alley.

beware the small canisters

a friend arrived and, after properly welcoming him with a face full of colors, we ventured out into the city. i should mention here that delhi on holi can be a daunting place. colors aside (which are usually made with some sort of toxic chemicals), there are people who like to play 'dirty' holi, which can include dumping eggs, grease - you name it - on unsuspecting passersby. not to speak of the drunken groping which can happen later in the day. needless to say, we were hoping to avoid these things. but it was still early and the streets were fairly empty. on the way we passed some typical sights - children chasing one another, men pouring out bhang lassis, and of course plenty of stands selling gulal (colors). we stopped at one such stand to stock up on necessities.

then across town to another neighborhood where we found a place to park and walked down into the other friend's neighborhood. on the way we were subject to attacks of projectile colors (mostly in water form) from the kids on upstairs balconies. they were so excited when they got the gori (that would be me, folks). we retrieved our friend, who greeted us with all-natural gulal (fancy!), and we returned to the main road, opening ourselves up to overhead assaults once again. we arrived on the street just in time to greet my friends who had arrived from england just a few days prior. they're pretty fair-skinned even by british standards so you can imagine how white they must have looked next to all of our color. well, naturally we wasted no time in taking care of that. before long they looked like all the other tourists they had been making fun of in their hotel that morning. we had a quick stop at another gulal stand and had a quick bite - samosas and pakoras, with probably a dash of chemicals from our colored hands.

aftermath (this used to be white)

from there it was back to my friend's place (the first one). and, yes, the car had been suitably prepared for the inevitabilities of holi (read: trashbags and old towels on the seats). by the time we got back the main celebrations in the neighborhood were over but it didn't stop us from having our own fun. plenty of color attacks and lots of dancing, accompanied by a little whisky (parading as appy fizz). in the end we were covered head to toe. one friend, in a particularly malicious move, got us with the tiny canister of color concentrate: just add water and you'll be pink for a week. guaranteed!* after we'd had our fun we took our turns in using the bathroom, turning the tiles and towels successively pinker one by one. my hair, neck and parts of my face remained quite pink, even after several scrubbings and even using that horrible green soap that's only used on dishes and, probably, hulls of boats and rusty tanks. that may have been more damaging than the toxic colors, all told. after we were (marginally) cleaned up we met and gathered at a different friend's place across town for a night of food and relaxing.

overall it was a great introduction to holi. while it was pretty tame, i didn't want to go too crazy and venture out into the chaos of the city. although i do regret not taking more pictures (my main camera still has some colors on it; i switched to my little point and shoot for fear of permanent damage) and getting closer to some of the action. i'm sure i'll be back, though. and next time i'll get a little more into the mix. really get my hands dirty.

*i now know this to be true for a fact.

it was tough to cut short my time in varkala - between the warm sunny beaches, cheap and plentiful ayurvedic massages and abundant seafood, i'm sure i could have stayed for several days. but it was not to be. i had places to see in my remaining days in kerala. although actually my next destination lay outside the state itself.

kanyakumari is not a big tourist destination for foreigners. but as for indians, well you can probably find nationals from all over the country here. i think there must be something romantic about being at the very tip of the country, being exactly where the giant nation comes down to one single point. it's this dramatic notion, i suppose, that has led to the tradition of people watching the sunrise. (it's said that from here you can both watch the sun rise and set over the same waters - though in actual practice one has to travel a bit to achieve this.) so, as any good tourist, i dutifully roused myself at 5.30 and made my way down to the water, wandering through winding streets of fishermen's homes.

there were already people gathered to get a spot along the sea wall for the sunrise. as with any gathering of people in this country, there were of course people trying to sell things. 'chai coffee' 'seashells' 'postcards pictures'. the skies were just starting to get light but i passed the time watching the spectacle of indian men clambering down over the rocks to get their pictures taken while being splashed by the sporadic waves.

the morning did end up being a wonderful one - well worth waking up and roaming around bleary-eyed and un-showered. there was something about being one of the first to see the sun come up over all of india that just felt somehow meaningful. then there was the added bonus of the beautiful golden early morning sunlight. i delighted in wandering among all the colorful boats with their ropes, nets and paint peeling in that wonderful way that's just so photographable. at the same time fishermen were busy untangling their nets, hauling in their first catches of the day and setting out to sea.

i think my pictures from this morning capture the scene much better than my words can so i'll just leave it at that and give you this photo-log instead.